A tent has appeared in the Churchyard of Cheltenham’s oldest building - the mediaeval Cheltenham Minster at St Mary’s Church in the centre of town.

Gloucestershire Live attempted to contact the owners but they weren’t present – but the assumption is that it’s being used by a homeless persons or people.

The tent was earlier accompanied by two others

Next to the small green dome tent is a bicycle, a couple of cardboard boxes spread out and flattened to make a makeshift groundsheet, a sleeping mat and an old pillow.

Boxes have been flattened to make a sort of groundsheet

Earlier this week a picture was tweeted which showed two more tents against the fence of the churchyard.

Whoever is using the tent as shelter won’t be asked to move on from the land, which is Church of England property, at least for a while.

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Despite being on sabbatical for some months, and preparing to move to a new role still in the Gloucestershire Diocese, the Reverend Canon Tudor Griffiths is still the rector of Cheltenham Minster.

Reverend Cannon Tudor Griffiths, Rector and Area Dean of Cheltenham

He said: “This isn’t the first time this has happened.

"In fact we recently hosted a couple behind the church at St Matthews for a few months. They were out of sight so, and we didn’t make a fuss about it, so it didn’t become public knowledge. It’s a bit more public in the churchyard of the Minster though.”

Rev Griffiths added that having someone camp in the churchyard couldn’t be a permanent fixture

He said: “It’s not a long term solution. But homelessness is a big problem and as long as the people are respecting the property and not causing a nuisance, then I don’t think we’d want to add to the burden of someone with the problems of being homeless. We’re not really in the business of adding to the problems of vulnerable people.”

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A passer-by in the churchyard said: “It’s sad really. A lot of people might think they’re bad, but you never know what problems someone has had to lead them here.”

Gloucestershire Police said that it had no powers to move people from private property unless there was a complaint of criminal activity or if it was required to oversee a court eviction order.